SWA#3 Topic Proposal 1

What is the purpose of the argument? What does it hope to achieve?
In Chapter 1 of Laughing Matters, in the section written by Robin Hemley, Hemley explains to the reader that “funny is a matter of perspective,” which is true. Something that may appeal to one person or group of people may not necessarily appeal to another person/group. Hendley hopes to convince the reader that this is true. In the example that he gave about the two women who were discussing how they've known "parents with kids who've lost their front teeth and then have to go their whole lives with fake teeth," although the women’s conversation was not necessarily meant to be funny, to him it was. In this example Hendley proved that you can find humor anywhere. This observation made perfectly good sense to me because I've always been that one person when watching a "scary" movie that laughs hysterically because of the idiotic situations that the characters put themselves in. And although you're not supposed to laugh in a horror flick I do (much to the dismay of my fellow audience members).

What appeals or techniques does the argument use – emotional, logical, and ethical?
By using his own personal experiences (such as the conversation he overheard between the mothers and the reference he made to his daughter being unable to tell knock knock jokes effectively) the author pulls his reader in emotionally, because by allowing the reader to share his experiences the reader is better able to comprehend the point that is being made.

How does the language or style of the argument work to persuade an audience?
The language that Hendley uses also plays a significant role in how the reader interprets what he's saying. Since the author uses a very simple, yet educated language the reader is able to follow exactly what he is saying and there is no question as to what he’s making reference to.

SWA #2

Why we laugh is something that I wondered before reading Comedy Writing Secrets, so when I came across Chapter Two I was immediately intrigued. The reason why this interests me is that humor unlike everything else in our world and universe (well, maybe not universe) humor cannot be explained. I didn’t think that there was any sort of biological explanation to explain why some people find certain things funny and other people find them either offensive or boring. So it peaked my interest when the book mentioned that psychologist Patricia Keith-Spiegel came up with reasons why we laugh and what motivates us to laugh, the six motivations of laughter (according to Keith-Spiegel): instinct, incongruity, ambivalence, release, when we solve a puzzle and regress. Why we laugh is important to know because by understanding why we laugh, maybe we can laugh more, which would result in a happier and healthier population (in my opinion). The only thing that Keith-Spiegel left out was the possibility that we laugh sometimes just to laugh.
When I searched for things that we laugh at that shouldn’t be funny I found this website: http://ravivora.com/blog/funny-things-you-laugh-at-but-shouldn’t. This site listed eighteen things that people laugh at that they shouldn’t necessarily find funny. I chose this as the text to support my topic because in the eighteen things that the author mentions at least three of them were not supported by the six motivations for laughter that Keith-Spiegel lists. The first funny thing that people shouldn’t laugh at (according to that website) was ugly babies. Laughing at an ugly baby is not supported by any of the six motivations that Keith-Spiegel lists.

SWA #1

The first chapter of Comedy Writing Secrets explains to the reader how to become a successful comedic writer. It dismisses the belief that being funny is a trait that some people are born with and others just have to live without. Rather people can be taught humor writing and with practice the skill can be polished to near perfection. The skill of being able to write humor can be used in nearly any profession, from teaching to being the President of the United States. According to the book every president elected since Franklin Roosevelt have had humorists as members of their speech writing teams. In order to write successful humor readers are informed that they must make use of three elements: Material (which must be appropriate according to one’s audience), Audience (which must “complement the material and presentation style of the performer”) and Performer (which must present the appropriate material to the right audience in a way that doesn’t offend, but causes laughter), this technique is referred to as MAP.
Prior to reading Comedy Writing Secrets I thought that this was going to be yet another textbook that English professors assign to their classes full of facts, facts and more facts. Once I got the book and saw the bright yellow cover (complimented by a falling stick figure) I started to wonder if maybe the authors were trying to trick you into thinking that you were going to be reading something that was actually somewhat interesting. The book has proven to be not only informative but entertaining as well. The most informative section has been MAP. I didn’t know that so much thought had to be put into performing comedy, but apparently unless the comedian thinks about what he is going to perform prior to presenting his material he may have to deal with either a silent crowd or an angry one. By knowing what type of audience to expect the performer is better equipped to know what will and what will not be a successful routine. My favorite example that the book gave made perfect sense: you wouldn’t tell a group of older people (retirees) a joke that included numerous sexual innuendos along with a large helping of swear words that would make a sailor proud.
One question that came to mind after reading this section was: “What if the performer’s audience is a mix of all genders, races, ethnicities and ages? What common ground could that performer find that would entertain everyone in the audience and not offend too many people?”